SMEs/QA don't have time to review the documentation?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

SB wondered: <<I would like to know how you are getting the material  
when doing the technical writing and how it should be done.>>

Reviews are always a challenge, and if you don't have strong  
management support for the process, it can be extremely difficult to  
succeed. Nonetheless, it can be done. The key is to recognize two  
things: (i) that every potential reviewer requires a different  
approach and (ii) that people will be willing, if not eager, to make  
time for your priorities if you're seen as a friend or colleague  
rather than just another annoyance that stops them from doing their  
own work.

Also, learn to have a little sympathy for them: If your life is  
chaotic, imagine how much more chaotic their lives are! We  
techwhirlers love to bitch and moan about how hard our lives are, but  
we're rarely the only victims in any workplace. Often, we don't even  
rank in the top five categories of victimhood and oppression. I've  
spent enough hours listening to tales of woe from people in many job  
categories that I know this as fact.

The topic has been discussed many times in techwr-l, so try searching  
the archives using the keywords "review" or "reviewer". Also visit my  
site (www.geoff-hart.com) and use those keywords in the Google search  
box, or (better still) have a quick skim through my bibliography  
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/bibliography.html) for these and  
related keywords. You'll find half a dozen or more articles on the  
topic, all based on my 20 years of experience coaxing reviewers into  
giving good reviews. It's not just theory: it's proven to work.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
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